UC-NRLF 


Boei'iz'Nvr'iVd 
'A  'N  *asnDBji!g 

•SO J  2  pjojiCBO 


The 

Cause  and  Meaning 

of  This  War 


By  F.  W.  HENSHAW 

Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
California 


The  Argonaut  Press,  September,  1917 


"Our  rights  have  been  grossly  violated,  our  citizens 
have  been  foully  murdered  under  their  own  flag,  our 
neighbors  have  been  invited  to  join  in  making  conquest 
of  our  territory,  our  patience  in  pressing  the  claims  of 
justice  and  humanity  has  been  met  with  the  most  shame- 
ful  policy  of  truculence  and  treachery'' 

"True  Americans,  those  who  toil  here  for  home  and 
the  hope  of  better  things,  whose  lifted  eyes  have  caught 
the  vision  of  a  liberated  world,  have  said  that  of  the 
policy  of  blood  and  iron  there  shall  be  an  end,  and  that 
equal  justice,  which  is  the  heart  of  democracy,  shall  rule 
in  its  stead," 

— President  Woodrow  Wilson. 


»»     »      t 


The  Cause  and  Meaning 
of  This  War 


To  Those  Who  Are  in  the  Service  of  the  United  States 
in  Its  Annies  and  Navies,  and  to  Those  Who  May 
Be  Called  to  That  Service: 

THIS  world's  war  has  now  been  in  progress  for 
more  than  three  years.  It  began  when  many  of 
you  were  too  young  to  study  its  meaning  or  to  take 
much  interest  in  its  progress,  since  it  seemed  very 
unHkely  that  the  United  States  would  be  drawn  into  it. 
You  know  that  you  are  in  this  war,  but  it  is  not  sur- 
prising if  a  great  many  of  you  do  not  thoroughly  under- 
stand why  you  are  in  this  war.  It  is  my  purpose  to 
explain  to  you  those  reasons  briefly  and  in  simple  terms. 
But  even  to  do  this  will  first  require  some  words  about 
man's  development  in  government  and  the  conditions  of 
the  warring  nations. 

The  Christian  conception  of  God  is  that  there  is  an 
all-wise,  an  all-powerful,  an  all-kind  Being,  Who  takes 
a  personal  interest  in  the  present  and  future  lives  of 
men.  If  you  apply  that  idea  of  a  spiritual  Being  to 
this  earth,  all  will  agree  that  no  people  could  be  bet- 
ter ruled  than  by  such  an  all-wise,  all-powerful,  and 
all-kind  King  or  Emperor;  and  this  was  exactly  the 
ancient  idea  of  kingship.  The  king  told  his  people,  and 
his  people  believed,  that  he  held  his  power  directly 
from  God  and  ruled  them  in  accordance  with  the 
Divine  will.  In  time,  however,  the  people  learned  that 
this  could  not  be  so  because  they  were  treated  with 
great  cruelty  and  oppression,  and  thus  they  came 
not  only  to  disbelieve  in  what  was  known  as  the 
"divine  right  of  kings,"  but  they  came  to  believe  that 

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2  '         ^  V   S  ^  :  %/  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^^^  Meaning  of  This  War 

they  were  entitled  to  a  voice  in  their  own  destinies.  In 
this  belief  was  the  germ  of  Democracy.  The  word 
simply  means  government  by  the  people,  as  the  word 
Republicanism  means  government  by  the  people  through 
representatives.  This  idea  of  democracy — of  the  peo- 
ple coming  into  their  right  to  govern — took  hold  and 
spread  over  great  portions  of  the  civilized  earth.  In 
some  countries,  as  in  France  and  America,  kingship 
even  in  name  was  abolished.  In  other  countries  the 
form  of  kingship  was  maintained,  but  the  power  of 
kingship  was  absolutely  taken  away  by  the  people  and 
given  to  representatives  of  their  own  choosing.  Such  is 
the  case  with  England  and  Italy.  The  prime  minister 
of  England  and  his  fellow  ministers  are  in  most  real 
respects  like  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  his 
cabinet. 

The  Empire  of  Germany 
In  two  European  countries,  however,  the  people  for 
different  reasons  were  slower  in  securing  these  govern- 
mental powers.  These  were  Russia  and  Germany.  The 
first  by  revolution  since  this  war  began  has  put  aside 
its  Czar,  or  king,  and  has  become  a  democracy.  Not 
so  the  latter.  The  Empire  of  Germany  is  composed 
of  a  number  of  kingdoms,  one  of  which  is  the  King- 
dom of  Prussia.  These  kingdoms,  with  lesser  duke- 
doms and  principalities,  were  disunited  and  were  in 
frequent  wars  until  Prussia,  the  most  powerful,  by 
threats,  by  persuasion  and  by  the  strong  hand  of  mili- 
tary conquest,  formed  out  of  them  the  Empire  of  Ger- 
many, over  which  the  King  of  Prussia  should  forever 
be  supreme.  Thus  Prussia,  always  a  military  nation, 
became  the  ruler  of  the  destinies  of  the  German 
Empire,  and  the  Kaiser  arranged  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  empire  so  that  he  should  exercise  abso- 
lute control.  The  chancellor  of  Germany  is  not  chosen 
by  the  people,  like  our  President  or  like  the  prime  min- 
ister of  England.    He  is  appointed  by  the  Kaiser,^^and 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 


is  responsible  only  to  the  Kaiser.  The  German  Reich- 
stag (or  Congress)  does  not,  like  the  American  Con- 
gress or  the  English  Parliament,  make  laws  and  declare 
war.  It  is  an  empty  shell  of  a  congress.  It  is  but  a 
debating  society,  which  can  only  commend  or  com- 
plain in  words  which  have  some  influence  but  no  legal 
force.  This  Empire  of  Germany,  while  before  that 
time  in  the  process  of  formation,  was  completed  after 
the  Franco-Prussian  war  in  1870-71,  in  which  war 
Prussia  took  from  France  its  provinces  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine  and  imposed  on  her  a  very  heavy  war  indem- 
nity, or  payment  of  money.  Thereafter  the  Empire 
of  Germany  prospered  greatly.  It  developed  within  its 
borders  industries  of  many  kinds  and  carried  them  to  a 
high  state  of  efficiency.  It  built  a  great  fleet  of  merchant 
vessels  to  carry  its  goods  to  all  the  markets  of  the  world, 
and  in  each  of  these  things  the  government  aided.  With 
these  great  steps  forward  in  the  arts  of  peace  it  soon 
became  apparent  that  Germany  was  equally  active  in  the 
development  of  everything  dealing  with  war.  She 
trained  every  one  of  her  young  men  as  soldiers 
until  she  did  not  have  an  army  merely,  but  the  whole 
nation  was  an  army.  She  began  actively  also  to  build 
a  war  fleet,  until  today  that  fleet  is  the  second  in  the 
world,  and  surpassed  only  by  England's.  She  said  she 
was  doing  these  things  for  peace  and  to  protect  her- 
self against  possible  attack  from  possible  enemies  by 
which  she  was  surrounded,  meaning  thereby,  Russia  on 
the  east,  and  France  on  the  west.  She  formed  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  Austria-Hungary  and  with  Italy,  under 
which  either  two  was  to  aid  the  third  under  certain  con- 
ditions. This  treaty  was  known  as  the  "Tri-Partite 
Alliance,"  and  the  nations  forming  it  were  known  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  as  the  Allies.  The  other  powers, 
Russia,  France  and  England,  had  no  treaty,  only  what 
was  known  as  an  understanding  of  what  they  would  do 
in  the  event  of  war,  or,  in  the  language  of  French 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  ef  This  War 


diplomacy,  an  "entente,"  and  they  came  to  be  known  as 
the  "Entente  powers."  Often,  however,  they  are  now 
spoken  of  as  the  "Allies,"  and  Germany  and  Austria- 
Hungary  as  the  "Central  Powers."  They  will  in  this 
paper  so  be  called. 

Notwithstanding  Germany's  official  protestations  that 
her  great  army  and  navy  were  designed  only  for  her 
defense,  many  years  ago  and  shortly  after  her  war  with 
France,  the  professors  in  her  universities  and  the 
teachers  in  her  schools,  in  books  and  in  lectures  to 
their  classes,  carried  on  a  course  of  instruction  which 
amounted  to  this :  That  throughout  all  the  lower  animal 
kingdom  the  weaker  gave  way  and  were  exterminated 
to  make  room  for  the  stronger  and  better ;  that  this  was 
equally  true  of  mankind ;  that  the  history  of  man  showed 
the  extinction  of  numberless  tribes  and  races  and  peo- 
ples, and  that  this  struggle  for  supremacy  must  go  on; 
that  the  German  mind  and  the  German  character  were 
the  highest  in  the  world,  and  that  it  was  the  right  and 
duty  of  Germany  to  impress  these  upon  the  world  by 
subjugating,  and  if  necessary  exterminating,  the  inferior 
peoples.  The  pulpits  voiced  the  same  doctrine,  thus: 
"The  German  people  is  always  right,  because  it  is  the 
German  people" ;  "Germany  is  the  future  of  humanity" ; 
"The  downfall  of  Germanism  would  be  the  downfall  of 
humanity." 

The  public  utterances  of  the  Kaiser  through  many 
years  showed  that  he  held  to  the  ancient  or  mediaeval 
idea  of  the  divine  right  of  kings.  He  "held  his  powers 
direct  from  God";  he  was  "responsible  to  no  one  but 
God";  "unquestioning  obedience  was  due  to  him  from 
his  people  because  he  was  God's  representative."  Still 
further,  the  German  leaders  under  the  direction  of  Prus- 
sia developed  the  idea  of  the  State,  of  the  Government, 
of  Germany,  beyond  anything  ever  before  taught.  The 
idea  of  a  state,  or  of  a  government,  or  of  a  nation,  in 
countries  such  as  ours  is,  is  that  of  a  community  of  people 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 


agreeing  to  live  under  laws  which  they  themselves  frame 
and  execute.  They  thus  organize  into  a  state,  not  for  the 
purposes  of  aggression,  not  to  attack  other  states,  but 
to  live  peaceable  and  upright  lives,  and  by  organization 
be  prepared  to  protect  themselves  against  attack.  In  such 
a  state  as  this,  every  person  is  entitled  to  a  voice  in  its 
afifairs,  to  take  part  in  its  government,  and  to  suggest 
improvements  in  its  laws  and  conditions.  In  Germany, 
as  an  outgrowth  of  Prussia's  teachings,  the  people  were 
told,  and  in  time,  too,  a  very  great  part  came  to  believe, 
that  the  welfare  of  the  world  depended  upon  Ger- 
many ;  that  the  German  state,  the  Empire,  had  a  supreme 
destiny,  and  this  destiny  was  to  achieve  the  control 
of  the  world;  and  as  the  German  people  were  the 
greatest  people  in  the  world,  so  it  would  be  for  the 
benefit  of  the  world  when  this  was  done.  "Deutschland 
uber  alles"  (Germany  above  all  else)  was  but  a  popu- 
lar expression  of  this.  Therefore,  the  idea  of  Germany 
which  was  taught  was  that  she  was  a  state  above  all 
other  states,  and  that  nothing  which  any  of  her  people 
did,  whatever  its  nature,  was  or  could  be  wrong  so  long 
as  it  was  done  under  the  direction  of  authority  and  was 
therefore  necessary  for  the  benefit  of  the  state.  So  much, 
then,  for  the  attitude  of  Germany  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
great  war.  This  design  of  world  conquest  is  what  is 
meant  by  "Pan-Germanism."  For  this  little  review  it 
becomes  necessary  briefly  to  consider  the  positions  of 
the  other  European  nations. 

Austria-Hungary 
Germany's  ally  under  the  Tri-Partite  Alliance  is  often 
known  as  the  Dual  Monarchy,  since  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  is  also  the  King  of  Hungary.  The  nation  is  com- 
posed of  many  peoples  having  different  racial  and  differ- 
ent political  aspirations.  Her  ruler,  however,  is  Ger- 
manic. For  our  purposes  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it 
is  and  long  has  been  recognized  that  in  its  foreign 
affairs,  in  its  dealings  with  other  nations  over  serious 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 


international  questions,  Austria-Hungary  has  been  abso- 
lutely dominated  by  Germany.  Austria-Hungary  is  and 
has  been,  as  has  been  Germany,  jealous  and  fearful  of 
the  growing  power  of  Russia. 

Italy 
Italy,  once  the  seat  of  the  great  Roman  Empire, 
later  fell  on  evil  days,  until  finally  she  became  a  part 
of  Austrian  territory  and  subject  to  Austrian  rule.  She 
achiered  her  independence  after  a  long  war  and  re-estab- 
lished herself  as  the  Kingdom  of  Italy,  a  constitutional 
kingdom  not  unlike  that  of  England.  She  did  not,  how- 
ever, succeed  in  acquiring  as  a  part  of  her  kingdom 
territories  inhabited  by  Italians  and  lying  to  the  north 
and  east  of  her  peninsula  near  to  the  head  of  the  Adriatic 
sea — Trent  and  Trieste.  She  has  always  contended  that 
these  territories  should  belong  to  her.  This  is  the  mean- 
ing of  "Italia  Irredenta'' — unredeemed  Italy.  Her  part 
in  this  war  is  devoted  to  conquering  those  territories 
from  Austria-Hungary. 

Turkey 
Some  centuries  ago  an  insignificant  tribe  of  an  Orien- 
tal people  allied  in  race  to  the  Tartars  or  Chinese  began, 
under  the  leadership  of  their  chief  Osman  or  Othman, 
a  career  of  conquest.  They  were  of  the  Mohammedan 
religion  and  brought  the  "Koran,  tribute,  or  the  sword." 
Their  success  in  war,  while  remarkable,  was  not  unlike 
that  of  other  peoples  in  the  early  days  who  by  force 
of  military  training  and  superior  ^military  leadership 
from  small  beginnings  achieved  great  results  in  con- 
quest The  great  Roman  Empire,  for  example,  was 
founded  by  a  small  and  obscure  tribe  in  central 
Italy.  Alexander  the  Great  was  originally  but  the  ruler 
of  one,  and  that  an  inferior  tribe  (except  in  arms),  of  the 
Grecian  peoples,  the  Macedonians.  So  it  was  with  the 
Ottoman  or  Osmanli  Turks,  as  they  came  to  be  called. 
Advancing  from  their  conquests  in  Asia  Minor  they 


The  Cause  *nd  Meaning  of  This  War 


swept  around  both  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  con- 
quering Egypt  and  the  south  coast  of  the  Mediterranean, 
conquering  Constantinople  (the  Eastern  seat  of  the 
Roman  Empire)  and  the  adjacent  Balkan  peninsula, 
including  Greece.  They  took  Constantinople  on  the  Bos- 
phorus  (1453)  and  all  the  lands  lying  around  the  Black 
sea.  From  Constantinople  they  besieged  Vienna,  and 
were  finally  defeated  by  the  Pole,  John  Sobieski,  King  of 
the  then  Kingdom  of  Poland,  which  has  since  been 
divided  between  Prussia,  Russia  and  Austria.  After  cen- 
turies of  conflict  they  lost  the  territories  on  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean  and  around  the  Black  sea. 
They  maintained  their  conquests  in  Europe  nearest  to 
Constantinople,  that  is,  the  whole  Balkan  peninsula. 
Their  possessions  in  Asia  Minor  were  never  seriously 
interfered  with  by  the  countries  of  Europe.  Now  here 
was  a  people  of  alien  race  and  speech,  of  alien  religion 
and  with  a  bitter  hostility  to  Christianity;  of  foreign 
laws  and  customs,  and  infamous  for  its  brutality  and 
ferocity.  These  Ottoman  Turks  were  and  are  in  num- 
ber few  compared  to  their  subject  peoples,  and  they 
ruled  wholly  by  terror  and  by  force  of  arms.  One  of 
these  subject  peoples  in  Asia  Minor  are  the  Arme- 
nians, who  had  early  embraced  Christianity  and  had 
faithfully  adhered  to  that  religion  through  persecu- 
tions infinite  in  number  and  dreadful  in  kind.  In 
Europe,  and  particularly  in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  were 
to  the  southward  the  Greeks,  famous  in  history,  and 
north  of  them  smaller  countries  and  peoples,  Bulgaria, 
Serbia,  Montenegro,  Albania,  Bosnia,  Herzegovina, 
and  still  further  north,  Rumania,  a  people  claiming 
descent  from  the  Romans  (Ruman — Roman).  All  these 
peoples  were  Christians  and  were  subject  to  the  Turks. 
They  were  restless  under  the  atrocious  rule  of  their 
masters  and  from  time  to  time  started  wars  with  more 
or  less  success  for  their  independence,  but,  generally 
speaking,    Europe   took   very    little    interest   in    their 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 


affairs,  the  principal  reason  for  which  will  hereafter 
be  given.  Indeed,  the  great  chancellor,  Bismarck, 
the  man  who  under  the  Kaiser's  grandfather  and 
father  did  more  to  shape  the  policy  and  success  of  Ger- 
many than  did  any  other  man,  himself  declared  that  all 
of  the  Balkan  peninsula  "was  not  worth  the  bones  of 
one  Pomeranian  grenadier." 

Russia 
Russia  was  a  vast  northern  empire  taking  in  a  large 
part  of  Europe  and  extending  across  Asia  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  She  numbers  more  than  two  hundred  millions 
of  people.  Broadly  speaking,  they  are  of  the  Slav, 
race.  Here  it  may  be  said  that  all  the  peoples  of  Europe 
(excepting  the  Turks  and  Huns)  belong  to  the  one  Indo- 
European  family  of  people,  which  in  turn  is  divided  into 
sub-families,  Slavic,  Teutonic,  Gallic,  Latin,  etc.  Russia 
with  her  multitudes  and  natural  sources  of  wealth  has 
enormous  possible  powers.  Her  development  has  been 
retarded  not  alone  by  her  autocratic  form  of  govern- 
ment in  which  the  Czar  and  his  councillors  were  the 
supreme  rulers,  but  also  because  these  men  vested  with 
these  tremendous  powers  used  them  unwisely  and  kept 
back,  rather  than  advanced  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 
The  thrust  of  the  Turks  into  Europe  had  divided  the 
Slav  peoples,  for  some  of  the  Balkan  states,  particularly 
Serbia  and  Bulgaria,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  were 
Slavic.  Two  prominent  facts  in  Russia's  national  policy 
are  to  be  remembered.  Vast  as  was  her  territory,  it 
was  all  northern  territory  and  her  seaports  were  closed 
in  winter  by  ice.  She  needed  for  commerce  at  least  one 
"winter  port,"  that  is  to  say,  territory  fronting  on  navi- 
gable waters  which  would  give  her  an  open  harbor 
through  the  winter.  In  her  domain  lies  the  Black 
sea,  connected  by  the  narrow  waterways,  Bosphorus 
and  Dardanelles,  with  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  so 
with  the  oceans  of  the  world.  Controlling  this  outlet 
were  the  Turks  at  Constantinople.  The  cruelties  inflicted 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 


by  the  Turks  on  the  Slavic  peoples,  their  hostility  to  all 
forms  of  modern  development,  their  unreliability  and 
corruption,  taken  with  the  needs  of  Russia  herself,  dic- 
tated the  war  which  about  forty  years  ago  ( 1878)  Russia 
waged  against  Turkey  to  drive  her  out  of  Europe  and 
secure  control  of  this  entrance  to  the  Mediterranean  sea. 
She  was  successful  in  this  war,  but  the  other  European 
powers  at  that  time,  apprehensive  of  Russia's  plans 
and  designs,  intervened,  blocked  her  aims  and  forbade 
her  from  taking  Constantinople.  But  at  least  she  suc- 
ceeded in  forcing  Turkey  to  recognize  the  independence 
of  Serbia,  Montenegro,  Bulgaria,  and  Rumania. 

The  second  of  these  outstanding  facts  is  that  Russia 
for  reasons  not  necessary  to  enter  into  here,  but  one 
of  which  was  the  racial  consideration,  became  the  "Lit- 
tle Father''  of  the  Slavic  Balkan  states.  Not  many  years 
ago  (1912)  a  number  of  these  Balkan  states  (Greece, 
Serbia,  Montenegro,  and  Bulgaria)  formed  a  confedera- 
tion to  fight  in  unison  and  to  conquer  Turkey  in  Europe. 
They  were  victorious  in  the  war,  but  were  not  allowed  by 
the  great  European  powers  to  have  their  own  way  in 
dividing  amongst  themselves  the  conquered  territory, 
nor  yet  were  they  allowed,  any  more  than  was  Russia,  to 
put  Turkey  out  of  Europe.  Bulgaria  considered  herself 
badly  treated  by  the  allotment  of  territory  made  to  her 
and  there  followed  the  second  Balkan  war,  in  which 
Serbia  and  Greece,  who  had  been  given  what  Bulgaria 
thought  was  more  than  their  share  of  the  mountains 
and  plains  of  Macedonia,  joined  forces  and  defeated 
Bulgaria.  Russia,  as  has  been  said,  had  always  exer- 
cised a  friendly  influence  in  behalf  of  Bulgaria,  and 
the  other  Slavic  states,  and  Bulgaria  was  resentful  that 
Russia  did  not  come  to  her  aid  in  this  last  war,  though 
how  she  could  have  done  so  as  against  Serbia,  another 
Slavic  state,  is  not  apparent.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
Russo-Turkish  war  (1878)  it  was  agreed  that  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, lying  just  to  the  north  of  the  Balkan 


10  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

peninsula  and  in  nearest  touch  with  it,  would  herself 
exercise  a  sort  of  police  protection  over  some  of  these  dis- 
turbed kingdoms  (very  much  like  the  protection  we  exer- 
cised over  Cuba)  until  they  were  able  satisfactorily  to 
manage  their  own  affairs.  Instead  of  living  up  to  this, 
however,  Austria-Hungary  took  advantage  of  Russia's 
difficulties  in  her  recent  war  with  Japan  and  publicly 
announced  that  she  annexed  the  two  states  of  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina.  These  were  Slavic  states.  Serbia 
believed  they  would  be  united  with  her,  as  they  would 
have  been  if  allowed  a  voice  in  the  matter,  and  the  result 
was  to  cause  great  discontent  both  in  Russia  and  in 
Serbia.  The  Kaiser  "rattled  his  saber''  and  threatened 
Russia  with  war  if  she  undertook  to  interfere.  (1908.) 

France 
The  Republic  of  France  had  suffered  grievously  in 
tribute  and  in  territory  in  her  last  war  with  Germany 
(1870-1).  There  had  been  wrested  from  her  two  of  her 
French  speaking  and  France  loving  provinces — Alsace 
and  Lorraine.  It  may  be  said  that  many  in  France  har- 
bored the  hope  that  some  day  she  would  be  able  to 
win  back  from  Germany  those  lands  which  German 
arms  had  by  conquest  torn  from  her,  but  unquestion- 
ably, as  France  noted  the  amazing  growth  in  people 
and  power  of  the  German  Empire  in  comparison  with 
her  own  slower  increase  in  population,  this  hope  waned. 
The  French,  however,  as  was  natural,  studied  Ger- 
many's plans  and  designs  with  utmost  care,  and  long 
before  the  beginning  of  this  war  became  convinced 
that  those  plans  contemplated  world  conquest,  and  she 
braced  herself,  not  for  aggression,  but  to  meet  this 
great  shock.  She  realized  that  alone  she  was  helpless 
against  Germany,  and  she  cultivated  with  Russia  and 
with  England,  the  understanding  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  the  Triple-Entente.  This  understanding  contem- 
plated no  aggressive  measures,  but  dealt  with  what  these 
nations  would  do  if  and  when  they  or  any  of  them  were 


I 


The  Cause  mnd  Meaning  of  This  War  11 

attacked  by  the  Central  Powers.  It  was  well  known 
that  Austria-Hungary  would  act  as  Germany  directed. 
It  was  feared  that  Italy  because  of  the  Tri-Partite  Alli- 
ance would  join  with  them.  In  fact,  however,  it  should 
here  be  said  that  Italy  as  the  third  member  of  the 
Tri-Partite  Alliance  refused  to  join  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria-Hungary in  the  war,  basing  her  refusal  upon  the 
ground  that  the  Tri-Partite  Alhance  contemplated  the 
co-operation  of  the  three  allies  only  in  a  war  of  defense, 
and  that  this  war  was  not  defensive,  but  to  the  contrary 
was  an  aggressive  war  deliberately  brought  by  Germany 
and  Austria-Hungary. 

England 

Because  she  was  an  island,  because  she  was  a  vast 
manufacturing  and  exporting  country,  because  she 
depended  largely  on  importations  for  her  food  supply, 
because  her  territorial  holdings  were  all  over  the  globe, 
England  for  her  protection  had  built  and  continued  to 
maintain  the  strongest  navy  in  the  world.  She  had 
no  such  trained  army  as  had  the  European  nations. 
Her  whole  regular  or  standing  army  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  did  not  number  as  many  men  as  are  in  her  Avia- 
tion Corps  alone  today.  England,  while  in  name  a  king- 
dom, is  essentially  a  republic  like  the  United  States.  While 
prepared  by  her  navy  to  defend  her  rights  and  posses- 
sions, no  sane  person  has  ever  said  that  England  con- 
templated a  career  of  world  conquest,  and  her  lack  of 
a  great  army  is  a  conclusive  demonstration  that  no 
such  plan  was  ever  in  the  minds  of  her  leaders.  For  a 
navy  alone,  while  it  can  protect  from  sea  invasion,  can 
not  conquer  a  defended  country.  Moreover,  her  pos- 
sessions in  India,  Africa,  Canada,  Australia,  and  New 
Zealand  were  quite  enough  for  every  possible  purpose 
and  policy. 

Belgium 

The  little  kingdom  of  Belgium  fronting  on  the  NortK 
sea  near  the  English  channel,  the  territory  of  which 


12  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

is  for  the  most  part  low-lying  plains,  had  been  by  treaty 
guaranteed  that  in  any  war  her  soil  would  not  be 
invaded.  In  the  ages  past  her  lands  repeatedly  had  been 
soaked  in  the  blood  of  warring  nations.  Her  people, 
few  in  numbers,  had  proved  that  they  would  fight  to 
the  last  man  in  defense  of  their  liberties.  Because  of 
their  character  and  location  her  lands  furnished  the 
most  accessible  method  for  Germany  on  the  east  or 
France  on  the  west  to  attack  each  other.  Every  Euro- 
pean nation  in  the  west,  including  England,  was  inter- 
ested in  preserving  Belgium's  independence;  for  Ger- 
many to  control  Belgium  meant  a  greatly  added  threat 
against  France  and  a  greatly  added  peril  to  England 
lying  but  a  few  miles  across  the  Channel.  Under  these 
considerations  France,  Austria,  Prussia  and  England 
by  treaty  guaranteed  not  only  the  independence  of  Bel- 
gium, but  her  immunity  from  invasion  by  any  hostile 
army.  Little  Belgium,  on  the  other  hand,  agreed  to 
maintain  her  neutrality  and  to  use  her  utmost  force  to 
protect  her  soil  against  such  hostile  invasion.  Switzer- 
land on  the  south  occupies  in  this  regard  very  much  the 
situation  of  Belgium. 

Bulgaria,  Greece,  Rumania,  and  Japan 

Bulgaria,  though  Slavic  and  deeply  indebted  to  Rus- 
sia for  her  independence,  joined  Germany  and  Turkey 
(her  ancient  oppressor)  in  the  conquest  of  Serbia.  She 
pretended  that  she  did  so  to  regain  territory  wrongfully 
taken  by  Serbia.  She  really  did  so  under  German  influ- 
ence, for  Germany  had  long  been  engaged  in  putting 
German  rulers  over  the  Balkan  states,  and  the  King  of 
Bulgaria  was  one  of  them. 

Greece,  in  treaty  bound  to  come  to  Serbia's  aid,  did 
not  do  so  because  of  German  influence.  The  wife  of 
the  ex-King  is  the  Kaiser's  sister.  The  Allies  were  help- 
less to  save  Serbia  and  little  Montenegro,  as  to  attempt 
to  do  so  meant  leaving  a  strong  Grecian  army  in  their 
rear  which  might  attack  them  at  any  moment.   Finally 


k 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  13 

the  Allies  forced  the  King  of  Greece  to  abdicate,  and 
put  his  son  on  the  throne;  but  Greece  is  now  really 
governed  by  the  people  through  Venezilos,  the  Prime 
Minister,  whose  sympathies  are  with  the  Allies. 

Rumania,  rich  in  grain  and  flocks,  was  always  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Allies.  She  claimed  the  fertile  lands  of 
Transylvania  held  by  Austria  but  peopled  by  Ruma- 
nians. She  entered  the  war  last  year  and  in  a  short 
campaign  was  desolated  and  destroyed  by  German, 
Austrian,  and  Turkish  forces.  She  openly  declares  that 
in  this  she  was  betrayed  by  Russia,  which  promised  to 
support  her  and  did  not.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that 
the  Kaiser's  influence  over  the  Czar  was  very  great,  as 
wras  also  the  influence  of  the  Czar's  German  wife,  and 
this  was  one  cause  of  the  Czar's  overthrow. 

Japan,  under  treaty  with  England,  was  called  upon  to 
destroy  the  German  menace  in  the  Pacific.  She  promptly 
did  so,  and  to  her  is  due  the  fact  that  the  Pacific  Ocean 
is  free  from  German  piracy. 

Poland  and  Bohemia 

Poland,  at  one  time  a  kingdom  of  Europe  second  in 
territory  only  to  Russia,  was  between  1772-1795  dis- 
membered and  her  lands  divided  between  Prussia, 
Russia,  and  Austria.  This  is  known  as  the  "Crime  of  the 
Partition  of  Poland."  From  time  to  time  she  has  tried 
by  revolt  to  achieve  her  independence,  always  without 
success.  Kosciusko  was  one  of  her  revolutionary  heroes, 
and  many  of  you  have  read  how  "Freedom  shrieked 
as  Kosciusko  fell."  It  is  proposed  by  the  Allies  to 
re-establish  the  Polish  nation.  For  Poland's  cause,  in 
sentiment  as  well  as  in  justice,  makes  a  strong  appeal 
to  the  world.  When  her  king,  John  Sobieski,  defeated 
and  beat  back  the  Turks  he  not  only  saved  Austria,  but 
perhaps  all  Europe  from  Turkish  domination.  So  great 
was  the  relief  and  joy  that  the  prelates  of  the  Christian 
churches  preached  from  the  Biblical  text,  "There  was  a 
man  sent  by  God :  and  his  name  was  John." 


14  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

Bohemia,  Slavic  in  race,  and  at  one  time  an  indepen- 
dent kingdom,  is  now  under  Austrian  rule.  Years  ago 
she  called  a  convention  of  all  the  Slavic  peoples  under 
Austrian  domination,  but  it  resulted  only  in  a  successful 
attack  on  her  by  Austria. 

Germany's  Changed  World  Policy 

Germany's  World  Policy  changed  after  the  time  when 
her  great  chancellor  Bismarck  said  that  the  whole  Bal- 
kan peninsula  was  not  worth  ''the  bones  of  one  Pom- 
eranian grenadier."  The  change  was  with  the  object  of 
which  we  have  before  spoken,  the  deliberate  plan  that  Ger- 
many should  conquer  the  world,  due  to  the  belief  enter- 
tained that  she  could  do  this  thing.  Such  plans  are  not 
matured  and  put  into  action  in  a  day.  A  nation  expects 
to  live  forever  and  tries  to  look  far  into  the  future  in 
figuring  out  its  welfare.  Bismarck  taught  the  very 
sound  military  policy  of  defeating  your  enemies  in 
detail,  and  in  the  case  of  a  nation  which  you  propose  to 
conquer  to  single  out  that  nation  and  isolate  it  from 
other  nations  by  persuasion,  coercion  or  alliance,  so  that 
you  can  attack  and  subdue  it  without  trouble.  Germany's 
plan  then  contemplated  as  matter  of  course  not  to  con- 
quer the  world  at  large  by  declaring  a  general  war  upon 
it,  but  beginning  with  Europe  to  bring  in  detail  and  one 
by  one  its  nations  under  her  subjection.  In  the  years  of 
her  preparation  she  busied  herself  astoundingly  in  the 
development  of  her  army  and  of  her  navy  and  refused  at 
the  suggestion  of  England  to  join  with  her  in  decreasing 
the  building  of  warships.  She  seized  upon  two  Ameri- 
can inventions,  the  submarine  and  the  flying  machine, 
and  secretly  developed  and  improved  them.  She  formu- 
lated the  plan  of  first  cutting  Europe  and  Asia  Minor  in 
two  by  a  control  of  continuous  territory  from  the  North 
Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  A  glance  at  the  map  will  show 
what  this  meant.  It  meant  the  gathering  in  of  Hol- 
land and  Belgium,  the  reduction  of  France  to  a  subor- 
dinate power,  the  forcing  of  Russia  in  part,  if  not  in 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  15 

whole,  out  of  Europe,   the  domination  of  Turkey  in 
Europe  and  of  Turkey's  possessions  in  Asia  Minor,  and 
the  extension  of  this  power  to  the  head  of  the  Persian 
Gulf.   She  realized  that  the  solution  of  the  French  and 
Russian  problem,  as  well  as  the  problem  of  Holland  and 
Belgium,  could  only  come  by  war.  Turkey  could  be  con- 
trolled under  a  German  protectorate,  and  to  this  end 
some  years  ago  this  Christian  Kaiser  went  to  Turkey, 
the   oppressor   of   all   Christian   peoples,   and   publicly 
declared  himself  to  be  Turkey's  protector  and  the  pro- 
tector and  defender  of  the  Mohammedan  faith.  He  easily 
procured  the  concession  to  build  his  railroad  through 
Asia  Minor  to  the  Persian  Gulf.  But  to  bring  that  rail- 
road to  the  heart  of  Germany  it  was  necessary  to  carry 
it  from  Constantinople  west  and  northward.    The  only 
feasible  route  for  this  was  through  the  Balkan  penin- 
sula and  so  through  Serbia,  and  here  and  for  this  rea- 
son, little  Serbia  became  of  consequence  to  Germany's 
plans.    This  road,  as  is  quite  plain  to  be  seen,  was 
designed  to  be   a   great   military   highway   from   any 
point  of  which  Germany  could  reach  out  to  the  north 
or  south,  east  or  west.    It  was  the  direct  means  when 
the  time  came  for  the  subjection  of  Persia,  India,  Egypt, 
and  Russia's  southern  possessions.    It  gave  the  same 
control  over  the  Balkan  peninsula  and  it  afforded  Ger- 
many an  incomparable  advantage  in  the  swift  move- 
ment of  trained  troops  upon  which  success  in  war  so 
much   depends.     Germany   also   built   the   Kiel   Canal 
through  the  base  of  the  Danish  peninsula,  thus  giving 
her  a  protected  water  connection  for  her  largest  warships 
between  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic.    Her  railroad,  it 
is  apparent,  to  be  available  for  military  purposes  must 
run  wholly  through  German  lands  or  lands  friendly 
to  Germany.   As  has  been  said,  it  had  to  cross  and  did 
cross  Serbia.    Serbia,  though  an  independent  kingdom, 
was  by  race  and  sympathy  allied  to  Russia.  It  was  thor- 
oughly well  known  that  Russia  had  declared  that  she 


16  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

would  protect  the  interests  of  the  Balkan  Slavic  states. 
Serbia  was  resentful  at  Austria's  treatment  of  her  in 
depriving  her  of  the  two  countries,  Bosnia  and  Her- 
zegovina, which  if  allowed  a  voice  in  their  own  affairs 
would  have  joined  the  Kingdom  of  Serbia.  It  was  no 
part  of  Germany's  plans  to  allow  Serbia  thus  to  increase 
her  power,  and  so  it  was  that  Austria  herself  annexed 
these  two  Slavic  countries.  Turkey  in  Europe  and  the 
Balkan  peninsula  are  known  as  the  "Near  East,"  and  so 
we  read  much  of  the  "Near  East''  difficulties. 

The  Outbreak 
We  may  now  with  understanding  come  to  the  middle 
of  the  year  1914,  whose  first  of  August  saw  the  outbreak 
of  the  great  war.  In  the  light  of  the  disclosures  down 
to  date  it  is  beyond  debate  that  Germany  forced  this 
war,  believing  that  the  opportune  time  had  come  for 
her  to  establish  her  supremacy  over  all  Europe  saving 
England.  She  was  advised  through  her  spies  and  agents 
that  the  Russian  government  would  be  lukewarm  under 
attack.  She  believed,  also,  that  Russian  official  corrup- 
tion was  so  great  that  her  army  and  navy  would  both  be 
wholly  unprepared.  She  knew,  moreover,  that  for  lack 
of  transportation  facilities  it  would  be  a  slow  and  labo- 
rious process  for  Russia  to  mobilize  or  gather  together 
her  soldiers.  As  to  France  she  believed  that  the  Repub- 
lic's military  power  was  negligible,  and  she  knew  that 
she  had  defeated  her  in  1870-71  in  a  very  brief  whirl- 
wind campaign. ,  Many  of  the  newspapers  of  France 
were  publicly  lamenting  and  deploring  the  inefficiency 
of  the  army  in  all  departments.  Italy  she  believed  would 
join  in  the  offensive  under  the  Tri-Partite  Alliance,  or 
at  the  worst  would  remain  neutral.  England  was 
involved  in  grave  internal  disturbances  over  the  Irish 
Home  Rule  question.  There  had  already  been  arming 
and  a  local  revolt  in  a  northern  province  of  Ireland.  The 
Kaiser  was  the  declared  defender  and  protector  of 
Mohammedanism.     In  India,  which  numbered  millions 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  17 

of  Mohammedans,  it  was  thought  possible  for  Germany, 
through  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  to  incite  a  Jehad,  or  holy 
war,  by  the  Mohammedans  against  the  Christians. 
These  considerations,  with  her  contempt  for  England's 
insignificant  standing  army,  led  Germany  to  believe  that 
England  would  remain  neutral  in  case  she  attacked 
Russia  and  France.  The  conquest  of  these  would  make 
easy,  in  the  peace  settlement,  her  demand  for  supremacy 
over  Holland  and  Belgium.  Serbia  must  in  some  way 
be  gathered  in  or  crushed.  With  these  European  nations 
thus  subjected  and  with  their  fleets  gathered  together 
with  her  own,  the  downfall  of  England  would  come  as  a 
later  and  comparatively  easy  step.  The  Americas  were 
to  follow  next,  and  we  have  the  authority  of  our  own 
former  ambassador  to  Germany,  besides  much  other 
evidence,  that  Germany's  plans  for  the  invasion  and  con- 
quest of  the  United  States  had  been  thoroughly  formu- 
lated. 

While  it  used  to  be  a  recognized  thing  that  a  nation 
would  make  war  purely  for  the  sake  of  conquest,  interna- 
tional morality  has  reached  the  point  where  such  wars 
are  looked  on  with  strong  disfavor.  So  true  is  this  that 
few  nations  could  hope  to  receive  the  ardent  support 
of  even  their  own  peoples  in  any  war  unless  those  peoples 
believed  the  war  to  be  a  just  war.  So  it  was  that  the 
great  Bismarck  said  that  "A  war  to  be  a  success  must 
be  popular,  and  to  be  popular  you  must  make  your  people 
believe  that  they  have  been  attacked."  With  every  plan 
arranged,  even  to  the  violation  of  her  solemn  treaty  with 
Belgium,  with  the  opportune  moment,  as  she  believed, 
at  hand,  Germany  must  still  await  an  excuse  to  cover  up 
the  frightful  crime  she  planned  to  commit.  This  excuse 
she  made  out  of  the  murder,  on  June  28,  1914,  of  the 
heir  apparent  to  the  throne  of  Austria-Hungary  and  his 
wife  while  they  were  traveling  in  Bosnia.  Bosnia,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  a  part  of  the  Austrian  dominion. 
They  were  killed  by  a  Bosnian  assassin  who  sprang  upon 


18  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

the  steps  of  their  carriage  and  shot  them  both  to  death. 
It  was  manifestly  the  crime  of  an  anarchist,  Hke  the 
earHer  murder  in  Switzerland  of  the  elderly  wife  of  the 
Emperor  of  Austria.  Though  atrocious  in  itself,  and 
though  it  excited  a  wave  of  horror  and  indignation,  it 
had  no  political  significance.  Time  passed.  The  outside 
world  was  thinking  of  other  things.  Even  the  states- 
men of  the  Allied  nations  had  considered  the  episode 
closed,  when  from  a  clear  sky,  without  the  slightest 
preliminary  warning,  Austria  on  July  23,  1914,  served 
an  amazing  ultimatum  on  Serbia.  It  is  unnecessary  here 
to  go  into  the  details  of  Austria's  demands.  They  were 
of  a  most  humiliating  character.  Austria  charged 
Serbia  with  having  permitted  and  fostered  the  conspiracy 
which  resulted  in  the  deaths  of  the  heir  apparent  and  his 
wife.  Arrests  must  be  made.  Trials  must  be  had  under 
the  domination  of  Austria.  Humble  confessions  of  fault 
and  promises  of  good  conduct  must  be  read  before 
the  Serbian  army.  Civil  and  military  officers  of  the  Ser- 
bian kingdom  must  be  dismissed.  This  and  much  more 
Austria  demanded  of  little  Serbia.  The  statesmen  of  the 
world  agree  that  never  had  such  demands,  couched  in 
such  terms,  been  made  upon  any  independent  nation, 
and  that  the  terms  were  deliberately  chosen  so  that  Serbia 
could  not  accept  them,  and  thus  Austria,  under  her 
ultimatum,  would  declare  war  against  her.  What  would 
then  result  was  well  known.  Russia,  in  treaty  and  in 
honor  bound,  would  protect  Serbia  against  destruction, 
and  to  do  this  would  wage  war  against  Austria.  Ger- 
many, in  treaty  bound,  would  then  come  to  the  aid  of 
Austria.  France  by  her  Entente  bond  would  support 
Russia,  and  the  war  which  Germany  desired  and  planned 
would  thus  be  brought  about.  Serbia's  time  to  answer 
Austria's  ultimatum  was  limited  to  forty-eight  hours. 
England,  France,  Russia  and  Italy  were  one  and  all 
earnestly  desirous  of  preventing  a  European  war, 
and  their   statesmen  bent  their  most  active  energies 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  19 

to  this  end.  Serbia,  under  the  direction  of  Russia, 
in  the  hope  of  averting  war  made  a  response  marvelous 
in  its  humility,  conceding  all  of  Austria's  demands  saving 
one,  and  as  to  that  (trials  in  Serbia  under  Austrian  con- 
trol) agreeing  to  submit  the  question  for  determination 
to  the  great  Hague  Peace  Tribunal.  So  completely  did 
Serbia  consent  to  obey  Austria's  demands  that  the  news- 
papers of  Berlin  published  the  declaration  that  Serbia 
had  yielded  and  that  war  was  averted.  Within  two 
hours  after  those  papers  appeared  upon  the  streets 
they  were  suppressed  and  the  same  newspapers  pub- 
lished the  contrary  declaration,  that  Serbia  had  rejected 
Austria's  demands  and  that  war  was  inevitable.  Mean- 
time, and  while  the  diplomats  were  active  day  and 
night  in  their  exchange  of  suggestions  and  advice, 
Austria  mobilized  against  Serbia,  and  Russia  mobil- 
ized against  Austria.  All  possible  efforts  were  made 
by  England,  by  France,  by  Italy  and  by  Russia  to  avert 
the  catastrophe,  and  their  pleas  were,  of  course,  made 
to  Germany,  because  it  was  well  known  that  she 
could  control  Austria's  action.  Germany,  while  express- 
ing a  desire  for  peace,  refused  to  do  anything,  basing 
her  refusal  on  the  ground  that  the  honor  of  her  ally 
Austria  was  involved  and  that  on  a  question  of  honor 
every  nation  must  decide  for  itself.  Apparently  Austria 
herself,  grew  terrified  over  the  impending  consequences 
of  her  action,  and  listened  to  one  of  Russia's  sugges- 
tions for  a  "localization"  of  the  war,  or,  in  other  words, 
it  was  contemplated  that  Austria  might  punish  but  not 
subjugate  Serbia,  might  send  an  army  across  the  Danube 
river  and  take  Belgrade,  the  capital  of  Serbia,  and  stop 
there,  holding  that  capital  pending  permanent  terms  of 
reconciliation.  But  this  would  have  meant  the  total 
breaking  down  of  the  execution  of  Germany's  long 
cherished  plan,  and  she  then  intervened.  Germany,  in 
turn,  served  an  ultimatum  upon  Russia,  in  which  she 
declared  that  which  was  denied  and  was  manifestly 


20  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

false,  that  Russia  was  mobilizing  her  forces  against 
her,  and  she  demanded  instant  demobilization  of  all 
of  Russia's  forces  within  twenty-four  hours.  This  was 
designed  to  be  a  demand  impossible  to  comply  with. 
Russia  replied,  so  stating,  and  stated  further  her  pending 
negotiations  with  Austria  and  her  hope  that  the  war 
could  be  ''localized."  Then  it  was  that  Germany,  herself 
already  mobilized,  declared  war.  Then  it  was  that  the 
Kaiser  dramatically  announced  to  his  people  that  Ger- 
many's war  was  a  war  of  defense ;  that  her  enemies  "had 
thrust  the  sword  into  his  hand,"  and  that  he  would  not 
sheathe  it  until  the  Fatherland  stood  secure  in  all  its 
rights  against  the  oppression  of  its  conscienceless  foes. 
Then  it  was  that  Germany,  under  the  plan  long  pre- 
arranged, hurled  her  armies  into  Belgium,  violated  her 
treaty  with  that  gallant  little  nation,  and  sought  to  take 
Paris  and  conquer  France  by  this  swift  and  treacherous 
movement,  for  she  knew  that  France  would  not  expect 
such  perfidy  and  so  would  not  be  prepared  to  meet  her  on 
the  Belgian  front.  Then  it  was  that  under  the  protesta- 
tion of  England  that,  being  a  signer  of  this  treaty,  she 
could  not  look  on  in  silence  at  its  violation,  the  Chancellor 
of  Germany  contemptuously  asked  if  England  would 
go  to  war  for  a  "scrap  of  paper"  and  "for  a  word- 
neutrality,"  and  then  it  was  that  England  aligned  herself 
with  the  Entente  powers  and  entered  the  war. 

No  human  being  acts  from  a  single,  unmixed  motive. 
Neither  does  any  nation.  Undoubtedly  England  did  a 
very  brave  thing  in  staking  her  future,  as  she  knew 
she  was  doing,  upon  the  outcome  of  this  great  adven- 
ture. For  she  was  under  no  delusions  concerning  its 
gravity.  She  knew  it  was  a  life  or  death  struggle. 
Undoubtedly,  while  one  of  the  motives  which  actuated 
and  justified  her  was  the  sacrilege  committed  on  Bel- 
gium and  the  violation  of  a  treaty  to  which  Eng- 
land-herself  was  a  party,  she  saw  clearly  what  the 
United  States  has  come  to  see,  that  only  in  this  war 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  21 

lay  her  own  safety;  that  Germany's  conquest  of  Europe 
as  the  first  step  meant  the  conquest  of  Great  Britain 
as  the  second  step  and  the  conquest  of  the  United  States 
as  the  third  step.  These  considerations  in  no  way  detract 
from,  but  intensify  England's  justification  in  doing  as 
she  did. 

The  Vital  Controversy 

Government,  as  we  have  said,  is  a  matter  of  develop- 
ment, and  it  grows  better  and  more  humane  as  the  people 
of  the  government  themselves  grow  wiser  and  more 
tolerant.  There  is  no  nation  which  possesses  any  long 
history  in  whose  record  we  can  not  find  unjustifiable  wars 
and  the  oppression  of  weaker  peoples,  but  it  is  a  part 
of  the  growth  of  morality  as  well  as  a  part  of  the  doc- 
trines of  Christianity  that  such  wars  and  oppressions 
should  cease.  It  used  to  be  held  that  the  welfare  of  a 
nation  justified  every  act  of  its  rulers ;  so  it  was  said  that 
"expediency  is  the  morality  of  the  statesman."  In  a  sen- 
tence, this  meant  that  while  it  would  be  criminal  for 
you  to  murder  your  neighbor  because  you  coveted  his 
land,  it  would  be  justifiable  for  a  nation  to  perpetrate 
wholesale  murder  if  it  coveted  another  nation's  land. 
Civilization  now  applies  to  a  nation's  act  or  right  to  act 
the  same  moral  rules  by  which  an  individual's  conduct 
is  adjudged.  Germany  alone  holds  to  the  old  doctrine 
that  the  state  may  err,  but  can  do  no  wrong.  Moreover, 
the  wisdom  of  modern  statesmanship  recognizes  that 
peoples  should  be  united  in  a  government  wherever  pos- 
sible in  accordance  with  race,  and  that  to  the  citizens  of 
each  government  should  be  given  a  large  and  an  ever 
larger  voice  in  its  control,  until  they  are  fitted  to  exer- 
cise complete  self-rule.  The  very  strength  of  England 
in  her  far  scattered  colonies  and  possessions  lies  in  the 
fact  that  she  recognizes  the  wisdom  of  this  and  has 
allowed  all  of  those  colonies  and  possessions  the  utmost 
liberty  of  government  and  of  action. 

The  essence  of  this  controversy,  the  very  vitals  of 


22  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

this  war,  are  whether  the  German  idea  shall  prevail 
or  the  idea  held  by  those  countries  which  are  warring 
against  it.  Germany's  dominant  idea,  as  we  have  said, 
is  that  she,  her  morals,  her  "kultur,"  her  ideas,  are  the 
best  in  the  world  and  that  therefore  it  is  best  for  the 
world  that  they  be  forced  upon  it  at  whatever  cost.  If  a 
people  is  subjugated  or  even  exterminated,  it  is  to  make 
room  on  the  face  of  the  earth  for  a  higher  and  better 
people — the  German  people.  Radically  opposed  to  this, 
in  irreconcilable  hostility  to  it,  is  the  conception  of  the 
Allies  that  every  people  upon  the  earth  should  be  allowed 
to  work  out  freely  its  own  development,  its  own  culture, 
its  own  ideas  of  government,  and  all  things  else  so  long 
as  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  same  rights  of  other 
nations. 

This  is  what  our  President  means  when  he  says 
that  we  are  fighting  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democ- 
racy and  that  our  war  is  not  against  the  German 
people.  Their  rulers  and  leaders  of  thought  have  done 
this  awful  thing,  and  the  German  people,  as  all  loyal  peo- 
ple should  do,  are  but  following  their  leaders.  The  people 
have  been  wickedly  blinded  and  are  being  very  evilly  led. 
Given  a  voice  in  their  government,  given  a  Democracy, 
neither  they  nor  any  other  people  in  the  world  having 
such  a  voice,  would  enter  on  such  a  ghastly  career  of 
world  destruction. 

This  is  what  the  Prime  Minister  of  England,  express- 
ing the  same  thought  in  different  language,  means  when 
he  says  that  the  Allies  do  not  pretend  to  dictate  how 
Germany  shall  govern  herself;  but  when  it  comes  to 
treaties  of  peace,  the  Allies  have  the  right  to  say  with 
what  government  they  will  make  such  treaties,  and  they 
can  not  make  them  with  the  present  German  government, 
because  truth  and  honor  and  fidelity  to  the  pledged  word 
are  not  in  her  rulers ;  that  such  fidelity  is  not  only  vital 
to  every  transaction  between  men,  but  is  the  foundation 
stone  of  civilization  itself. 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  23 


■        T) 

^^■Germany's  Crimes  Against  the  Civilized  World 
^^H|  AND  Against  the  United  States 

^m  The  psychologists,  the  men  who  study  the  workings 

of  the  human  mind,  precisely  as  your  physician  and 
surgeon  study  the  workings  of  the  human  body,  all  agree 
that  if  you  keep  a  person  entirely  under  the  influence 
of  one  idea,  however  awful  or  absurd  that  idea  may  be, 
if  his  reason  be  not  appealed  to  by  contrary  arguments, 
he  will  in  an  extraordinarily  short  space  of  time  come 
firmly  to  believe  that  which  is  thus  taught  him,  and 
particularly  is  this  true  if  the  human  being  is  in  the 
younger  and  more  impressionable  age.  Thus  they  say: 
Teach  a  young  fellow  that  it  is  not  only  no  crime  to 
steal,  but  that  it  is  a  good  thing  to  steal,  subject  him  to 
the  force  of  this  idea  and  its  evil  influences,  and  in  time 
you  will  nol,  only  have  a  skilled  pickpocket,  but  even 
worse  than  that,  you  will  have  a  pickpocket  who  believes 
that  he  is  doing  right.  In  this  way,  as  has  been  before 
said,  the  youth  of  the  German  nation  in  successive  gen- 
erations have  been  trained  to  believe,  and  most  of  them 
profoundly  believe  the  truth  of  their  teaching,  that 
where  Germany  is  concerned  nothing  which  is  ordered 
can  be  wrong.    We  will  return  to  this  amazing  belief 

I  shortly.  For  the  moment  let  us  pass  on  to  this  fact :  The 
civilized  world  generally  has  come  to  recognize  that  war 
at  its  best  is  hideous,  at  its  worst  is  unspeakable.  All  of 
the  nations  agree  that  its  horrors  and  sufferings  should 
be  lessened  so  far  as  possible.  Holland  built  a  superb 
courthouse  in  one  of  its  cities.  The  Hague,  where  dis- 
interested and  impartial  learned  men  selected  by  all 
the  nations  should  meet  as  a  court  and  pass  upon  the 
merits  of  disputes  between  nations,  a  Court  of  Arbi- 
tration to  avert  war.  Conferences  between  represen- 
tatives of  nations  were  also  there  held  from  time  to 
time  to  agree  upon  the  doing  and  the  not  doing  of 
things  in  war,  to  lessen  the  woes  and  sufferings  which 
inevitably  it  produced.    To  these  conferences  Gei^many 


24  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

sent  her  representatives.  In  these  conferences  many 
things  were  agreed  upon,  to  which  the  consenting 
nations  bound  themselves.  Amongst  these  things  were 
that  in  the  event  of  war  the  civilian  non-fighting  popu- 
lation should  be  disturbed  as  little  as  possible,  and  they 
should  not  be  injured  in  person  or  in  property.  Unfor- 
tified cities  should  not  be  fired  on,  and  fortified  cities 
should  only  be  fired  on  after  warning  to  the  garrison, 
so  that  the  non-fighting  population  could  be  sent  away. 
Warfare  itself  was  to  be  made  less  horrible  for  the 
soldier  as  by  prohibiting  certain  kinds  of  offensive 
weapons,  such  as  the  dum-dum  bullet,  which  splits  and 
creates  frightful  jagged  wounds.  Poisoned  gases  were 
not  to  be  employed.  Many  other  similar  regulations 
were  laid  down  and  agreed  to.  There  is  little  or  no 
exaggeration  in  saying  that  Germany  has  violated 
every  one  of  these,  wilfully  and  wantonly.  We  need 
not  undertake  to  give  a  complete  list  of  these  out- 
rages. A  few  conspicuous  examples  will  serve  to 
show  their  nature.  Violating  her  treaty  with  Belgium 
and  capturing  most  of  that  country,  she  took  the  private 
money  of  the  banks  and  she  levied  and  is  levying  enor- 
mous tribute  upon  the  cities.  She  stripped  the  factories 
of  their  machinery.  She  took  the  food  supplies.  She  left 
millions  of  people  to  starve,  and  they  would  have  starved, 
saving  for  the  food  sent  them  by  other  countries.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  the  Belgian  Relief  Commission  which 
until  the  time  of  our  declaration  of  war  had  for  its 
head  an  American,  Mr.  Hoover,  now  the  head  of  our 
Food  Control  Board.  Having  rendered  it  impossible 
for  the  inhabitants  of  Belgium  to  work  by  depriving 
them  of  all  their  tools  and  resources,  she  made  this 
an  excuse  for  carrying  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  them  into  actual  slavery,  and  compelling 
them  to  work  for  her.  She  did  worse  than  this.  She  set 
them    at    work    directed    against    the    lives    of    their 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  25 

own  countrymen,  in  making  munitions  and  in  digging 
trenches.  She  did  not  stop  here.  The  girls  and  women 
were  likewise  deported,  and  they  also  by  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  were  made  the  victims  of  the  lust 
of  the  German  soldiers.  Thousands  on  thousands  of  the 
peaceful  citizens,  including  women,  children,  and  priests, 
were  murdered  because  of  crimes  which  it  was  declared 
not  they,  but  other  Belgian  civilians,  had  committed. 
She  inflicted  hideous  mutilations  on  wounded  prisoners, 
and  deliberately  underfed  them  and  exposed  them  to 
deadly  contagious  diseases  in  her  prison  camps.  She 
maimed  helpless  little  children  by  cutting  off  their  hands 
and  feet.  She  did  exactly  the  same  things  to  the  peo- 
ple and  to  the  conquered  territory  of  France  and  Rus- 
sian Poland.  In  their  African  possessions  before  the 
advance  of  the  English  forces  the  Germans  retreated 
and  poisoned  the  wells  as  they  retreated.  They  did  this 
to  kill  the  victorious  enemy,  and  their  commanding 
officer  has  officially  admitted  that  he  did  this  and  has  jus- 
tified it  as  a  "military  necessity.''  Over  England  they 
have  sent  their  air  ships,  which  have  dropped  hundreds 
of  tons  of  bombs  on  unfortified  towns,  ruthlessly  kill- 
ing women  and  children.  The  Turks,  outnumbered  by 
their  Christian  subjects,  and  doubly  embittered  over 
the  uprising  of  those  Christian  subjects  in  the  Balkan 
wars,  had  conceived  the  infamous  design  of  mur- 
dering all  Christians.  In  particular  their  hostility  was 
directed  against  the  Armenians,  of  whom  we  have 
spoken,  and  whose  country  is  in  Asia  Minor.  The 
Armenians  are  a  very  ancient  people,  and  early  in  the 
history  of  Christianity  embraced  that  religion.  They 
have  held  to  it  through  indescribable  woes  and  adversi- 
ties, although  by  accepting  the  Koran  they  could  have 
had  relief.  It  was  this  far-away  people  that  in  Asia 
Minor  lent  aid  to  the  Christian  crusaders  in  the  first  cru- 
sade sent  out  to  rescue  the  Holy  Sepulcher  from  the 
Turkish  infidels.   For  years  the  name  of  Turk  has  been 


26  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

SO  horrible  to  western  civilization  that  they  had  come  to 
be  called  the  ^'unspeakable  Turk/'  and  for  two  genera- 
tions and  more  history  has  recorded  their  barbarities  to 
the  Armenians,  until  "Armenian  atrocities''  came  to  be  a 
diplomatic  phrase.  Taking  advantage  of  this  war,  the 
Turks,  allies  of  Germany  and  absolutely  subject  to  her 
will,  began  literally  the  extermination  of  the  Armenians. 
The  Christian  nations  made  their  appeal  to  the  Kaiser, 
the  neutral  nations  as  well  as  the  warring  nations.  One 
shake  of  his  head  would  have  stopped  this  infamous 
work.  He  refused  even  that  upon  the  ground  that  he 
could  not  interfere  with  the  internal  affairs  of  his  allies, 
and  as  one  of  the  Kaiser's  greatest  crimes  in  this  war 
stands  the  murder,  under  all  forms  of  Oriental  barbarity, 
ferocity,  and  torture,  of  over  one  million  Armenian  men, 
women,  and  children. 

Enough  of  these  world  crimes  which,  hideous  as  they 
are,  only  indirectly  affected  ourselves.  Germany  did 
not  pause  here.  She  undertook  to  beat  England  to  her 
knees  by  what  she  called  a  blockade,  but  this  blockade, 
since  England's  fleet  had  driven  her  fleet  off  the  seas, 
was  to  be  maintained,  not  by  the  seizure  of  merchant 
vessels  carrying  goods  to  England,  but  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  vessels  by  submarines.  Now  it  is  and  has  been 
the  international  law  of  the  high  seas  that  no  neutral 
vessel  may  be  disturbed  at  all,  even  in  going  to  a  block- 
aded port,  unless  she  carries  what  is  known  as  "con- 
traband of  war."  Contraband  of  war  for  our  purposes 
may  be  defined  as  goods,  munitions  of  war  or  other 
materials  out  of  which  munitions  of  war  are  made,  and 
those  things  designed  for  the  aid  of  the  fighting  enemy. 
Even  when  a  neutral  vessel  was  carrying  such  things 
she  was  secure  against  injury,  much  more  destruction, 
unless  it  was  necessary  to  fire  on  her  to  prevent  her 
efforts  to  escape.  Such  vessels  were  liable  to  be  seized 
and  searched,  and  if  innocent  of  carrying  contraband 
were  to  be  allowed  to  go  on  their  way.    If  carrying  con- 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  27 

traband  they  could  be  taken  to  a  port  of  the  capturing 
ship  and  there  the  questions  touching  the  ship  and  its 
cargo,  such  as  whether  or  not  it  was  carrying  contra- 
band, what  in  fact  was  its  destination,  etc.,  were  tried 
before  a  court  known  as  the  Prize  Court.  In  addition  to 
this  no  merchant  vessel,  not  even  an  enemy's  vessel  sub- 
ject to  capture,  could  be  destroyed  at  sea  unless  provision 
was  made  for  the  safety  of  its  crew  and  passengers.  All 
these  accepted  rules  of  international  warfare  at  sea  Ger- 
many treated  as  a  piece  of  waste  paper,  precisely  as  she 
had  treated  her  compact  with  Belgium.  The  nations  were 
horrified  over  the  destruction  of  the  Lusitania,  a  harm- 
less, unarmed  passenger  vessel  carrying  over  two  hun- 
dred American  men,  women  and  children,  and  sent  to  the 
bottom  by  a  torpedo  fired  by  a  German  submarine  with- 
out the  slightest  regard  to  the  appalling  loss  of  human 
life  which  resulted.  Our  government  protested,  and 
while  a  correspondence  was  carried  on  between  the  two, 
Germany  continued  to  destroy  all  merchant  vessels  which 
her  submarines  could  reach.  The  Lusitania  was  sailing 
under  the  English  flag,  but  Germany  destroyed  in  the 
same  manner  vessels  sailing  under  the  American  flag, 
with  the  loss  of  the  lives  of  American  citizens.  Finally, 
under  repeated  protests  and  repeated  warnings  from 
this  government  she  agreed  to  suspend  this  "unrestricted 
use  of  the  submarine  weapon"  and  no  longer  thus  wan- 
tonly and  illegally  to  destroy  at  least  neutral  merchant 
vessels.  She  observed  this  agreement  for  a  measurable 
length  of  time.  It  appears  plainly  now  from  her  own 
declarations  that  she  did  so  only  to  lull  our  indignation 
and  alarm  while  she  was  building  more  submarines. 
Then,  in  January  of  this  year,  she  served  formal  notice 
upon  the  United  States  that  she  would  resume  her  ruth- 
less submarine  warfare  and,  within  a  described  zone 
which  surrounded  the  British  Islands  and  extended  down 
the  coast  of  France  into  the  Mediterranean  sea,  would 
destroy  every  vessel  which  her  submarines  could  attack. 


28  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

and  she  concluded  this  declaration  of  {rightfulness  with 
the  contemptuous  and  designedly  insulting  concession 
that  she  would  permit  a  limited  number  of  American 
ships  to  sail  the  high  seas  and  go  to  English  ports,  pro- 
vided they  entered  and  left  those  ports  at  a  given  time,  by 
given  routes,  painted  like  zebras  to  distinguish  them, 
and  under  guarantees  given  by  our  government  to  the 
German  government  that  they  carried  no  contraband. 
Our  government  had  borne  all  these  wrongs  with 
great  patience  and  with  utmost  forbearance.  But  here 
at  last,  and  after  all  that  patience  and  forbearance, 
Germany  had  served  final  notice  that  none  of  our  rights 
would  be  respected  and  that  we  could  gain  a  measure  of 
security  only  by  a  concession  which  would  amount  to  an 
acknowledgment  of  her  supremacy  over  us.  She  had 
during  the  time  we  were  at  peace  with  her,  caused, 
through  her  spies  operating  directly  under  her  Ambas- 
sador at  Washington,  the  destruction  of  our  shipping 
and  of  our  munition  plants.  She  had  even  plotted  and 
urged  Mexico  and  Japan  to  wage  war  on  us,  promis- 
ing aid  and  a  division  of  our  territory.  And  so  came  the 
sure  knowledge  that  Germany's  hand  was  in  truth 
against  us,  as  it  was  against  all  the  world,  and  that  we 
must  make  war  upon  her  not  alone  to  prevent  a  repeti- 
tion and  recurrence  of  the  wrongs  which  she  had 
inflicted  and  proposed  to  inflict  upon  us,  but  that  we 
must  fight  for  the  preservation  of  our  government  and 
the  security  of  our  own  firesides,  or  the  infamies  which 
she  had  perpetrated  upon  Belgium  and  France  she  would 
perpetrate  also  upon  us. 

Though  the  immediate  battle  line  to  which  you  men 
will  go  is  drawn  the  length  of  Europe,  you  are  fighting 
as  truly  for  the  defense  of  your  homes  as  though  that 
battle  line  were  drawn  from  New  York  to  New  Orleans 
and  your  were  aligned  to  the  west  of  it.  In  this  strife, 
so  much  greater  are  the  issues  at  stake  than  ever  they 
have  been  in  any  preceding  war  that  our  President  says, 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  29 

and  says  truly,  that  you  are  not  only  warring  for  the 
freedom  of  our  own  institutions,  that  you  are  not  only 
battling  for  Democracy  at  home,  but  you  are  fighting 
the  battle  of  Democracy,  of  liberty,  of  right,  and  jus- 
tice, for  the  whole  world. 

Something  has  been  said  to  you  touching  the  perver- 
sion of  German  thought  under  her  teaching.  The  same 
teaching  justifies  as  "military  necessities"  all  the  atroci- 
ties which  Germany  commits.  Listen  to  this  from  one 
of  the  great  leaders  in  the  German  Reichstag,  Erz- 
berger,  a  man  who  calls  himself  a  Christian :  "The  more 
pitiless  and  cruel  war  is  the  more  humane  it  is,  because 
it  is  then  more  quickly  brought  to  a  satisfactory  end.  In 
warfare  the  greatest  absence  of  scruples,  if  one  sets 
about  the  matter  intelligently,  coincides,  in  reality,  with 
the  greatest  humanity.  When  we  are  in  a  position  to 
wipe  out  London  by  a  method  in  our  possession,  it  is 
more  humane  to  do  so  than  to  allow  a  single  one  of  our 
German  comrades  to  shed  his  blood  on  the  field  of  bat- 
tle, for  so  radical  a  cure  would  bring  peace  as  quickly 
as  possible.  Hesitation,  temporizing,  sentimentality,  and 
consideration  are  unpardonable  weaknesses.  A  decided, 
unscrupulous  action — a  display  of  efficiency — and  vic- 
tory follows.'' 

Peace  Negotiations 

Germany  hoped  by  a  swift  attack  upon  her  unpre- 
pared adversaries  to  bring  her  war  to  a  speedy  and  suc- 
cessful conclusion.  She  took  Belgian,  French,  Russian, 
Serbian,  and  Rumanian  territory,  but  in  every  essential 
she  failed.  She  won  victories,  but  she  could  not  con- 
quer, and  she  has  come  to  realize  that  she  can  not  con- 
quer. She  has  succeeded  only  in  arousing  against  her 
the  just  wrath  of  an  outraged  world.  She  is  willing  now, 
more  than  willing,  to  cry  quits,  so  that  at  some  future 
time  she  may  try  it  again.  This  calling  it  quits,  this 
"draw,'*  and  a  peace  on  that  basis,  is  the  meaning  of 
the  status  quo  ante  helium  of  which  you  now  hear  so 


30  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

much.  The  Latin  words  mean  a  return  to  conditions 
exactly  as  they  were  before  the  war. 

Consider  this:  A  gang  of  bandits  attacks  your  home 
town,  murders  your  friends,  robs  the  banks  and  commer- 
cial houses,  outrages  the  women,  sets  fire  to  homes,  and 
retreats,  carrying  away  a  number  of  innocent  girls. 
The  sheriff  organizes  a  posse,  pursues  and  surrounds 
the  bandits  in  the  hills.  You  are  a  member  of  that  posse. 
The  bandit  chief  sends  word  to  the  sheriff  as  follows: 
"We  did  you  up  in  that  little  encounter,  and  we  can  do  it 
again.  However,  we  don't  insist  on  that.  We  don't  want 
any  more  trouble.  Let's  call  the  whole  thing  off.  Let's 
restore  the  status  quo  ante,  as  the  book  sharps  call  it. 
We  will  even  return  the  girls."  What  would  you  think 
of  such  a  proposal  ?  Exactly  what  you  would  think  of  it 
is  exactly  what  the  Allied  nations  think  of  the  proposal 
for  a  compromise  peace  on  the  basis  of  the  status  quo 
ante. 

The  Allies,  under  the  leadership  of  our  President,  have 
declared  that  this  can  not  be;  that  fundamentally  this 
war  will  have  been  fought  in  vain  unless  by  its  outcome 
it  shall  be  made  impossible  for  Germany  to  wage  another 
such ;  that  the  crimes  of  peaceful  lands  laid  desolate,  and 
thousands  of  peaceful  citizens  murdered,  outraged  and 
carried  into  slavery  can  not  be  condoned  by  an  offer 
merely  to  restore  those  desecrated  lands;  besides  res- 
toration there  must  be  reparation  for  the  past  and 
security  for  the  future.  Who  can  question  either  the 
moderation  or  necessity  of  this  ? 

The  Duty  of  Soldier  and  Civilian 
Here,  then,  is  not  only  our  cause  of  war,  but  our  neces- 
sity for  war,  and  he  who  pleads  that  cause  may  stand 
upright  and  unashamed  before  the  judgment  seat  of 
God  and  man.  And  what  is  the  duty  of  us,  the  people, 
the  self-governing  people  of  this  country?  It  is,  whether 
soldier,  sailor,  or  civilian,  to  yield  not  only  unquestioned 


I 


The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War  31 

obedience,  but  ardent  service  to  our  rulers.  The  voice 
of  all  criticism  should  be  stilled  unless  that  voice  can 
with  certainty  speak  in  helpful  suggestion.  Amidst  the 
perils  and  woes  of  the  nation  there  is  no  place  for  malice 
or  for  spite.  He  is  no  American,  and  is  at  heart  a  traitor, 
who  does  not  warmly,  cheerfully,  hopefully,  and  to  the 
very  best  of  his  ability,  uphold  the  hands  and  aid  the 
work  of  our  rulers — rulers  whom  we  ourselves  have 
deliberately  chosen  and  placed  in  the  seats  of  authority 
to  guide  the  destinies  of  our  beloved  country. 

To  You 

In  this  war,  as  in  no  other,  all  the  most  highly  devel- 
oped nations  of  earth  are  at  death  grips  with  each  other. 
The  world's  inventive  genius  is  turned  to  destruction. 
Young  men  who  would  have  achieved  eminence  in  art, 
in  science,  in  literature,  have  gone  cheerfully  to  their 
deaths.  Millions  of  others  who  should  have  led  peaceful 
lives  as  the  fathers  of  the  generation  next  to  come  are 
counted  but  as  the  "unknown,  unnumbered  servants  of 
the  sword."  Civilization  itself  is  rocked  as  by  a  gigan- 
tic earthquake,  from  turret  to  foundation  stone.  "The 
treasures  of  Nature's  germin  tumble  all  together  e'en  till 
Destruction  sickens."  And  in  this  greatest  of  all  great 
catastrophes  you  are  called  to  bear  your  part.  Is  it 
worth  while  ?  If  you  respect  womanhood,  there  can  be  but 
one  answer.  If  you  love  the  women  of  your  own  fam- 
ily, there  can  be  but  one  answer.  If  you  honor  the  coun- 
try which  has  cherished  you  and  given  you  an  inde- 
pendence unparalleled,  there  can  be  but  one  answer.  If 
you  believe  that  the  United  States  should  not  bend  its 
neck  to  any  yoke,  there  can  be  but  one  answer.  If  you 
hold  that  the  peoples  of  the  world  are  entitled  to  work 
out  their  destinies  as  freemen,  there  can  be  but  one 
answer.  Unless  you  believe  that  there  is  no  aspiration 
of  man  so  noble  as  to  justify  him  in  risking  his  life 
for  its  attainment,  unless  you  believe  that  it  matters 


32  The  Cause  and  Meaning  of  This  War 

not  how  a  man  lives  so  long  as  he  holds  on  to  life,  there 
can  be  but  one  answer.  Twenty-four  hundred  years  ago, 
at  the  end  of  a  desolating  war,  Greece  at  Plataea  won  a 
decisive  victory  over  her  Persian  invaders  and  drove 
them  finally  and  forever  from  her  land.  To  her  soldiers 
who  fell  in  battle  she  erected  a  monument.  For  that 
monument  her  poet,  Simonides,  wrote  the  epitaph.  In 
that  epitaph  he  made  the  dead  heroes  speak,  and  this 
is  what  they  said:  "If  to  die  nobly  is  the  chief  part  of 
excellence,  to  us  out  of  all  men  Fortune  gave  this  lot: 
For  hastening  to  set  a  crown  of  freedom  on  Hellas,  we 
lie  possessed  of  praise  that  grows  not  old"  By  so  much 
as  the  freedom  of  the  world  today  is  of  greater  moment 
than  the  freedom  of  Greece  of  old,  in  that  larger  mea- 
sure does  this  epitaph  in  all  its  truth,  simplicity,  and 
grandeur  befit  and  belong  to  those  of  whom  may  be 
demanded  the  supreme  sacrifice,  for  you  will  lie  pos- 
sessed of  praise  that  can  never  grow  old. 

F.  W.  Henshaw, 
Associate  Justice,  Supreme  Court  of  California, 


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